Noodling around Silverwood Park, hunter finds 2022 Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt medallion

Jan. 31—Skyler Sawyer, 22, found the medallion of the 2022 Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt on Monday.

"This has absolutely been a dream of mine," said the St. Paul man at a news conference at Silverwood Park in St. Anthony. As a crowd of about 40 people pressed around him, Sawyer was presented with the prize — a $10,000 check for winning the 71st annual competition, held in conjunction with the St. Paul Winter Carnival.

Speaking to reporters, he said he couldn't quite believe how he uncovered it: The medallion was revealed when he dug through 6 inches of snow in a parking lot at Silverwood Park, then chipped away at a block of ice, then reached a piece of litter — an empty COVID-19 test box.

"That's the best piece of trash ever!" whooped Michael Sawyer, Skyler's father and a member of the Nimble Noodlers medallion-hunting crew.

This year's clues to the location of the medallion seemed difficult to the crew. On Sunday, Skyler worked until 7:30 p.m. at his job at Target, then raced out to the park to search until 9 p.m.

At sunrise Monday, his five-member crew was tramping around the park, trying to decipher the clues and kicking at the snow.

They weren't alone — several other crews were working in the same area.

But Sawyer recalled one of the clues hinting that the medallion was off by itself — so he ventured by himself to the middle of a forgotten overflow lot.

He can't recall why he picked the exact spot, but he dug through the snow and found it, winning the maximum $10,000 prize.

"It was ... luck. I was only doing it for 10 minutes," he said.

What will he do with the money?

"Save it! Save it!" he said.

Other medallion searchers watched Sawyer at the news conference with admiration and a little jealousy.

"We were right in this parking lot yesterday," sighed 89-year-old Jacquelyn Kuehn of Oakdale. She has not missed a Treasure Hunt since 1952.

"No, I'm not disappointed," she said. "You don't get disappointed. You just go out and try again."

Nick Casci of South St. Paul was searching in the same lot when the medallion was found. He and his crew, the New Age Notos, saw Sawyer pull up the medallion, and heard the triumphant shouting of his crew — and they knew it was over, until next year.

"It stings when you are this close," he said.